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I bought this car a couple of years back with only ~60k miles on it and it had been sitting in a garage for the last 15 years barely being driven. I've always wanted a 3rd gen and this was a pretty clean example so I figured let's put a modern drivetrain in it and make it a nice driver. The search began for a good swap setup and I found a lower mile 6.2L/10L80 out of a 2022 Camaro so I figured this would be perfect for it. Hawks Third Gen sells some swap parts for the Gen5 engines so I bought their mounts, trans crossmember, and longtube headers along with their branded subframes and torque arm setup since I needed something to relocate the torque arm off the back of the transmission. I started with installing the subframes and torque arm setup first so it would be ready for the swap when I had the chance... well I finally got started with the swap. My time is very limited, not sure why I even decided to take on another project right now so it's been slow going and who knows how long it's going to take for me to finish it but here are some progress pics.
I bought this car a couple of years back with only ~60k miles on it and it had been sitting in a garage for the last 15 years barely being driven. I've always wanted a 3rd gen and this was a pretty clean example so I figured let's put a modern drivetrain in it and make it a nice driver. The search began for a good swap setup and I found a lower mile 6.2L/10L80 out of a 2022 Camaro so I figured this would be perfect for it. Hawks Third Gen sells some swap parts for the Gen5 engines so I bought their mounts, trans crossmember, and longtube headers along with their branded subframes and torque arm setup since I needed something to relocate the torque arm off the back of the transmission. I started with installing the subframes and torque arm setup first so it would be ready for the swap when I had the chance... well I finally got started with the swap. My time is very limited, not sure why I even decided to take on another project right now so it's been slow going and who knows how long it's going to take for me to finish it but here are some progress pics.
Snug! Good luck and keep us updated. My 87 IROC not in as near as good shape, currently working on my 02 vert.
Sweet! Looks like a clean car to start with. If you wanted to get rid of all that HVAC equipment under the hood, Vintage Air makes a complete "bolt in" kit for 3rd gens now. Really cleans up things under the hood.
Man this is awesome. I restored and 5.3/4l60 swapped a 91 z28 for my daughter. I have an 87 I'm wanting to Gen v Lt swap. I haven't saw a good harness option for the Lt /8 and 10 speeds. I was wondering what oil pan you are running and what you have figured out on the harness and computer side of the swap. Love you car!
Man this is awesome. I restored and 5.3/4l60 swapped a 91 z28 for my daughter. I have an 87 I'm wanting to Gen v Lt swap. I haven't saw a good harness option for the Lt /8 and 10 speeds. I was wondering what oil pan you are running and what you have figured out on the harness and computer side of the swap. Love you car!
The two bigger companies for harnesses for the LTx swap stuff is PSI Conversions and Speartech. I really like Speartech's harnesses and they have been flawless but I can't justify spending twice as much as PSI so I went with PSI for this one. I'm running the Holley LTx swap oil pan which includes everything you need to switch it over.
I'll be watching your progress. I have an Lt1 block ,heads and rods and pistons out of my 16 Camaro SS. I ended up buying a new block and used my crank to build a forged bottom end for an LT4 blower. I just need a crank to put it back together. I also need a transmission. I'm just up in the air on doing Ls or Lt. I can do it so much cheaper ls swapped because I have almost everything . I really want to Lt swap it though. Thanks
Just a note in regards to Speartech. One of my car buddies did a 91 Camaro with a LS6 swap. They used Speartech and sent the front end car chassis harness from the 91 and totally integrated it with the LS6 harness. All wiring including AC.
Been 15 years and is still running strong.
As I recall they had to notch the right frame rail to clear the right frame rail. Also custom AC lines from?
I'm shocked by how clean the underside of your car is! That is the way to start a build with zero rust repairs or paint work! Can't wait to see how this progresses. Not sure how long the project will take, but you may want to keep checking on the Terminator X to see if they end up offering a module for the 10 speed transmissions. They came out with a 6 speed version a while ago now and I'm sure that it's on their radar for the 8 and 10 speed versions.
Not sure how long the project will take, but you may want to keep checking on the Terminator X to see if they end up offering a module for the 10 speed transmissions. They came out with a 6 speed version a while ago now and I'm sure that it's on their radar for the 8 and 10 speed versions.
Well compared to a stock Gen5 ECM the Holley fueling is half baked and not a true fuel film VE model, the SOI phasing is it's own thing, and the knock sensor control is just about worthless. If I am changing away from the factory computer, which I have no reason to right now, I would be looking at a MoTeC setup but besides that nothing else is really going to work as well as the stock computer.
OK so I made a little bit more progress, I got the driver side header in place and that's where things started to hit. It's hitting the steering shaft and the factory k-member a bit down low. The steering shaft I'm going to fix with a nice aftermarket one that eliminates the rag-joint and gives more clearance everywhere so that should be fine. The bottom part of the header though I'm going to have to take a hammer to and give it some more clearance as you can see in the pics. Probably won't take much, makes me wonder why they chose to build these headers with 2" primaries when it probably would have fit just fine with 1 7/8" and wouldn't have had any power loss. The heater core line I just needed to bend to the passenger side a bit to clear the back of the intake manifold.
Making more slow progress... I've got all of the accessories bolted up, it's the Holley mid mount kit and everything fits nice and tidy with plenty of clearance up front. Now starting to work on A/C lines, P/S lines, and coolant hoses. Looks like the stock bottom coolant hose might just work, the upper is too short to go across so I will need to find something but it's a simple hose so I'm sure something is out there that is just a bit longer.
Making more slow progress... I've got all of the accessories bolted up, it's the Holley mid mount kit and everything fits nice and tidy with plenty of clearance up front. Now starting to work on A/C lines, P/S lines, and coolant hoses. Looks like the stock bottom coolant hose might just work, the upper is too short to go across so I will need to find something but it's a simple hose so I'm sure something is out there that is just a bit longer.
If you can't get the stock lower hose to work these ones should work no problem they're 1.75"/1.5"
If you can't get the stock lower hose to work these ones should work no problem they're 1.75"/1.5"
Gates 21615
AC Delco 24202L
Dayco 71321
Hell yeah that's awesome, I will check those out if the lower won't work. Do you have any idea about the upper radiator hose? I downloaded the Gates hose guide to dig through but if you've found anything...
That Camaro is out of the desert! So clean! I was in Phoenix last winter for a few months and went around looking at cars the whole time. To a man they wanted way more than whatever was worth. By a factor of about 10.
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1987 IROC swap to 6.2L LT1 with 10 speed auto 
